By: Casey Korstanje
It’s both shocking and humbling to learn one has been wrong about something deeply held for years, 35 years to be exact.
I had walked into the church office and Larissa looked up from her computer. She had been reading the minutes I had submitted to her for circulation. “You spelled Carolyn’s name wrong,” she said.
I was horrified. “I did not,” I stammered. “C-a-r-o-l-i-n-e!”
“It’s l-y-n,” she smiled.
“No it’s not,” I said utterly shaken. I get that Larissa and Carolyn are family and all, but you have to understand the dissonance I was experiencing. In my former life as a writer and editor, one of the gravest sins one could commit was spelling someone’s name wrong. I actually bumped into Carolyn in the hallway a couple of days later and I apologized for misspelling her name for 35 years. She looked at me for a moment as if I had taken leave of my senses, but then smiled and let me go my way forgiven.
Some things are true, whether you believe it or not. Some things are true regardless of circumstance, argument, zeitgeist, culture, whim or tradition. Some things are just true, and that can be a secret source of strength for Christians.
Psalm 112:7 says: “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.” (ESV)
A brave statement to be sure, and one that I struggle with. I am generally afraid of bad news or calamity, which can come in many forms. Family strife, financial uncertainty, sudden health issues, death of a loved one, war, recession, divorce, betrayal… the list keeps going, they are the fingerprints of a fallen world.
And yet I have stood in the congregation and sung How Firm a Foundation, and held it in my heart.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”
Let me sum this up for you with three words: He Is Risen.
Whatever is going on in your life, or mine, however challenging or not. He Is Risen.
You may have a difficult decision to make, but even so, He Is Risen. You may be facing a terrible calamity, yet He Is Risen.
Some things are just true, no matter what.
He Is Risen! And that means: that “by him (Jesus) everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:39 (ESV)
Everything! Even those things that you fear. There is grace for you because He Is Risen!
Don’t be afraid of bad news, keep your heart firm, trust in the Lord come what may.
He Is Risen.
